A Fall in the Fall
by MeteorLeopard
Summary: This was ridiculous! There she was, just looking at the fish, and the next thing she knows, she's up in a tree being held against her will! And it's all his fault!


**Title: A Fall in the Fall**

**Author: MeteorLeopard (HoneyBadger)**

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><p>It was a cold, cold autumn morning, with the wind biting at exposed cheeks and burnt orange leaves sweeping at the feet of wandering Shinigami, when Hitsugaya was unexpectedly dumped in a lake.<p>

It wasn't his favourite pastime, to be sure, and when he emerged from the muggy brown pond water, a single strand of algae still caught in his white hair, he was not precisely pleased with the world.

To add to his predicament, there were witnesses to his rather disgraceful dip. A small blessing was that there were only two. The downside to said upside, however, was that the two individuals were hardly ones he'd choose to be seen by in these present circumstances.

One was his fellow captain and the owner of the pond he'd tripped into: Kuchiki Byakuya.

Said noble was standing a few meters off, arms stiffly poised at his sides, though the gloved fingers were twitching towards the hilt of Senbonsakura. Kuchiki was staring down at him and Toushirou had a sinking feeling that the noble was not precisely pleased with finding a fellow captain splashing around in the oh-so prestigious koi pond.

The other person, though not exactly mad at him, was almost worse to have as an audience to his moment of clumsiness than Kuchiki Byakuya.

Karin was standing on the decorative bridge spanning the small gap over the koi pond, leaning against the red-painted wood and looking as though she desperately wanted to bust her guts from laughing. Tactfully – for once – she was holding it in. So instead she was pressing her lips together and had her eyebrows furrowed in a way that looked almost painful. With the reddened leaves in the background, she looked like she could have stepped out of a painting.

It was not quite the attention he'd wanted from the human girl, yet, all the same, it was better than nothing, right? After all, she was staring at him. Toushirou subtly tried to remove the algae from his hair. He'd certainly made quite an entrance. Perhaps that counted for the dramatic effect that Matsumoto was always swearing was needed to nab a girl's heart. Not that he was trying to arrest anybody's heart. Nope. Not at all. He'd merely been on his way past the Kuchiki grounds shortly after completing his paperwork for the day when he'd sensed her presence within the Kuchiki estate and come to say hello. Yes, that was it.

Absolutely, most certainly, purely platonic!

"Hitsugaya-taicho," Byakuya spoke up, making his rather ominous presence known. "May I enquire as to why you are located in my fish pond?"

Toushirou glanced down and noted that he was still standing ankle-deep in water. That, along with the fact that he was dripping wet – and irritated from having his white hair plastered over his eyes – made for a rather incriminating scene.

"Ah," Toushirou began, trying to fumble for an answer that wouldn't make him sound like the fool he felt like. Honestly, what kind of an answer could you give to that without sounding completely inept? I tripped? Oh sure, tripped into a fish pond. Toushirou was sure the noble would buy that one! A little sarcastic voice in the back of his head muttered that Kuchiki was rich enough to buy anything.

Water was trickling down Toushirou's back and a little puddle was forming around his feet. Curse this uniform for having so much liquid-absorbent fabric! It had nearly drowned him a minute ago when he'd had his first taste of pond water. Toushirou could already see Hisagi's newspaper headline: Captain drowned in pond! Short stature to blame!

Oh, brilliant. Now not only was Kuchiki spitting mad at him for disrupting his sensitive pets but he'd be a laughing stock too! That, and Kuchiki would find some way to make Toushirou pay for his actions.

Karin chose that precise moment to do something very stupid. Toushirou knew that the Kuchiki noble had a soft spot for the young human girl since her older brother was dating Kuchiki Rukia and, at this present moment, keeping the angry short woman reasonably content. This put Byakuya in a good mood and therefore put Karin into his good books. However, even with that, Toushirou could only stare in awe as the loony girl vaulted over the bridge and took a feet-first dive into the freezing cold water.

Toushirou could have sworn that Kuchiki's eyes bulged to twice their normal size.

The resounding splash of her watery landing was still sounding in the air when Karin surfaced a second later, bubbles rising around her, and scrambled for the edge of the pond. Toushirou took a moment to get his brain kick-started from the shock-induced stupor it had slipped into before turning and taking hold of the back of Karin's navy sweat shirt and hauling the shivering girl out of the pond. He wondered how Byakuya would react to this latest development. After all, the noble couldn't precisely demand for Toushirou to be punished and Karin to get off scott-free when they'd both ended up committing the same heinous crime.

The soutaicho would find some way around it though. Toushirou could imagine it now. The old man would bang his stick and say, "You, captain Hitsugaya, are going to a special kind of hell. One reserved for child molesters and people who swim in fish ponds!"

However, when Toushirou turned his head to glance warily at the noble, Kuchiki was nowhere to be found. Ah. So the noble had decided to give the situation the slip and pretend that nothing had happened. So Karin's plot had worked…

Incredible really.

She was standing beside him on the edge of the pond now, shivering and quivering in her dripping clothes with her arms coiled tightly around her. "C-c-c-old!"

Toushirou refrained from rolling his eyes. Obviously the water was cold. It was the middle of freaking autumn! Of course, she was being affected by the chilling temperature much more than him; Toushirou was used to ice after all. Karin on the other hand was already going a rather unhealthy shade of white; like that of old porridge. And her lips were turning blue.

Not that he was looking, mind you. It just so happened that she was standing very close to him.

She was wearing a thin sweater with black leggings and a jacket was tied around her waist, just in case the mild autumn day turned cold. Toushirou debated whether or not to offer her his white captain's haori to cover up, but since it was soaked too it wouldn't really help to keep her warm. He should probably get her inside pretty soon so that she wouldn't catch a cold. Kuchiki's private garden, where they were currently standing in their sopping wet state, was rather drafty.

"So," she began, her teeth still chattering. "How did you land up in Byakuya's pond?"

"Didn't you see me? You were standing right there."

"I was just standing on the bridge," Karin explained, "watching those pampered fish swim in silly circles while waiting for Ichi-nii to finish up his business with Rukia and Byakuya. And then, next thing I know – BAM! You're in the pond."

Toushirou blushed red, his cheeks heating up from her rather basic description of events. He turned away, staring up at the sky for a bit, trying to come up with a decent half-lie to tell her. After all, he couldn't exactly let Karin know that, in his haste to come see her, he'd miscalculated his shunpo step and ended up slipping on the evening dew that was lying on the grass, sending him toppling over his own feet. It had been months since he'd last seen her and, he had to admit, he'd missed her. The last occasion when he'd seen her had been during the spring. The sakura trees had been in bloom then and right now the seasons had inverted, making the trees glow in reds and oranges. So that meant that a good six months had passed already.

Since he didn't have a decent response for her, he opted for a strategic evasion maneuver: Shove the attention off on someone else!

"Matsumoto didn't come into the office all day and I'm pretty sure she's passed out somewhere, drunk. I was on my way to look for her." He hoped that she'd follow up the conversation by focusing her attention on Matsumoto's utter lack of work ethic, but Karin was not so easily distracted.

She shot him a skeptic look and scowled. "That still doesn't explain why you jumped into the koi pond."

Damn it, Karin was one focused woman. Fine. That strategy hadn't worked. Time for strategic evasion maneuver number two: Deny everything!

"I didn't jump," he muttered, crossing his arms and yanking a clump of white hair from his eyes. Technically it was true. He hadn't jumped. He'd slipped. Completely different. "And those fish had it coming."

Karin snorted at his last feeble attempt at a joke but a shiver racked her frame and she stuttered to a halt, her jaw clamping shut as she tried not to let her teeth chatter like water cubes in an ice tray. Toushirou mentally slapped himself. This was no time to be having a chat. He'd have to take Karin somewhere warm so that she didn't get sick. Perhaps Kuchiki would take pity.

Toushirou stopped his thoughts, rethinking his idea on asking Kuchiki for help. The noble might just use this opportunity to lop off Toushirou's head and use it as a fluffy pin cushion in revenge for scaring the fish!

No, Toushirou rather liked his head firmly attached to his neck, thank you very much. Perhaps he'd rather go and ask someone else. A little voice whispered in his head about perhaps offering Karin a cup of warm tea back at his house, but Toushirou pushed it away. Sure, it might give them a chance to actually talk for once, but he wasn't sure if he was quite comfortable having anyone in his house, especially not Karin. Toushirou couldn't make a room seem comfy if he tried!

A wind picked up around them and Karin huddled in on herself, really freezing now. Even though it wasn't precisely a cold day, the wind combined with the water gave Karin's body enough cause to shudder like a jittery skeleton. With the wind came the red leaves from the surrounding trees and, as Toushirou watched, a single copper leaf wafted down from the sky to land, perfectly perched, on Karin's wet head. It was light enough not to bother her and she remained completely oblivious to its presence in her hair. The red and brown of the leaf contrasted vividly with her dark locks and it made for a rather cute picture. If only he had a camera!

Toushirou almost grinned at the thought of having a picture of Karin. Before Karin could protest much at his smug expression, he reached up with a hand and nicked the leaf from her hair. Karin tried to keep his hand in focus with her eyes and ended up going squint trying to follow where his fingers were heading. It might have been his imagination, but Toushirou could have sworn that she blushed a bit when his hand brushed against her hair. Retrieving the leaf, he held it up between them. Karin blinked, scrutinizing the offending plant matter and they stared at it for a minute, not entirely sure what to do with a leaf that had invaded Karin's personal space.

Toushirou was the first to shrug it off and try to take charge. He flicked the leaf away and took Karin's wrist – more out of convenience to drag her along – and prepared to head away from the pond. "Let's get you inside and into something warm before Kurosaki has my head."

Karin fumbled for a moment, trying to catch up, and then gave a nod. "Uh, yeah." They were halfway across the lawn when she spoke up again, her curiosity once more getting the better of her. "Toushirou, seriously now, what the heck possessed you to take a dunk?"

He clenched his jaw, looking away. "Nothing."

Karin prodded further, staring at him with her enquiring dark eyes. "So you decided that you wanted a swim?"

"Hardly," he said curtly.

"So it was an accident."

"Maybe."

"You're being very vague," she grumbled, irritated.

"Not really."

"Just tell me dammit!" Karin threw her hands up into the air in exasperation, more than a little irked.

Toushirou kept his cool. He would not be admitting to Karin why he'd been in the pond, and that was final. She just had to drop it. "There's some things in life not worth knowing."

"Fine then," she snapped. "Until you tell me, I refuse to go inside and dry off, and then when I get sick, I'll be sure to tell Ichi-nii exactly why I got wet."

Toushirou stared at her dumbfounded, not quite believing his ears. "You're… _blackmailing_ me?"

"Yes," she replied tartly, sticking her nose into the air. "And that's a straight answer!"

Toushirou gritted his teeth. Oh no, there was no way that he was admitting to Karin that he'd only ended up in the water because of a moment of idiocy! It would be like admitting that he had moments when he was wrong; and he didn't! He was never wrong! Other people were wrong!

He tightened his hold on her wrist. If he wanted to, he could easily pick her up and force her inside, but she'd be difficult there too and refuse to change, and there was no way that Toushirou was going to undress her! Besides, she'd be angry at him, and after six months of not seeing her, that was the last thing he wanted. But on the other hand, he couldn't let her get sick. They'd hit a stale mate. "Damn it Karin, just get inside!"

Karin huffed, her temper rising and yanked her hand from his grasp to cross her arms over her developing chest (not that he'd noticed or anything). Her ponytail and bangs were slicked to her cheeks and neck from the water and made her look ridiculously attractive. "No. Not until you tell me why you were in the water."

Toushirou growled. This had become more of a contest of pride than anything else.

Just then, a voice coming from just around the corner startled them out of their glaring-session. "Oi, Karin!" Ichigo hollered. "We can go home now!"

Toushirou stiffened. Shit! He couldn't let Kurosaki see his little sister when she was this wet! Those big-brother complexes would kick in and then Toushirou would be the one blamed for Karin's state!

So, without much deliberation, Toushirou snatched Karin from the ground and, ignoring her startled yelp, leapt into the nearest tree. It was early autumn, thank goodness, and the leaves were still pretty dense on the branches, which meant that they were an excellent place to hide from enraged big brothers.

Toushirou noted vaguely that he was still holding Karin bridal style in his arms. Even dripping in cold pond water, Karin's body was giving off a radiating kind of warmth that was already seeping deep into Toushirou's bones and giving him a cozy sort of feeling. He decided that he rather liked having Karin this close and made a mental note to do so more often.

Karin, once she'd re-orientated herself and realised that Toushirou had abducted her into a tree, wasn't taking this lying down. "Toushirou! Get your hands off'a me! Pervert! Pervert! Lemme go!"

Toushirou had hit a new record of blush-intensity. Forget the tomato-red, he was red enough for a whole freaking tomato plantation! Damn Karin! She was only yelling so loudly to draw Ichigo's attention! Calling him a pervert, of all things, would only be like sounding an alarm bell to the substitute and get Toushirou decapitated faster! So, seeing no other way to silence her, he twisted his arms and pressed a hand to her mouth, gagging her.

Karin kicked and squirmed, making it all the more difficult to hold onto her whilst not falling out of the tree himself. So, trying to get a better grip on her, Toushirou abandoned the elegant bridal-style for a more vice-like grip. He had her knees pinned together and, with his other arm, fastened her flailing arms to her sides whilst still keeping his hand clamped over her mouth. Down below, Toushirou could feel Kurosaki's reiatsu coming closer. Toushirou was getting edgy. If Kurosaki found them now, up in a tree, with him holding Karin against her will…

"Huh? I could'a sworn that Karin said she wanted to go see the fish." Ichigo was standing virtually below them now, scratching his orange head and looking around confusedly. Karin was making a lot of muffled yelling noises in the back of her throat, but luckily the wind and the rustling orange leaves around them were drowning her protests out. Toushirou tightened his hold on her to stop her wriggling. His heart was beating way too hard in his chest. Toushirou only prayed that no water from their dripping clothes would land on Ichigo's head and make the substitute look up.

Karin had other plans though. It was as though she wanted her brother to find them – obviously, she was being kidnapped – and then watch as Toushirou was ripped limb from limb by the extremely dangerous substitute. She began thrashing about even more vigorously and, finding that her muffled screams weren't reaching her brother's ears, decided that she needed to get rid of her gag. So she bit him.

Toushirou almost yelled then – out of shock and pain – when her teeth sunk into his flesh in a most disturbing way. His grip loosened just the slightest, giving Karin enough time to turn her head away and out of his hand's reach and suck in a huge gulp of air. No! No, he couldn't let her alert Kurosaki!

…In hindsight, he'd probably blame it on adrenaline.

However, his method of keeping Karin quiet worked pretty well. In fact, the moment that Toushirou pressed his mouth against hers, she went as stiff as a board. Her eyes popped wide open and she was staring at him. He stared back, since he hadn't closed his eyes either. How unromantic.

For the first few seconds of the rather clumsy kiss, Karin seemed to do nothing more than comprehend the situation. Then, once she'd quite understood what was going on, Toushirou could see the anger creeping into her sparking eyes.

Dread pooled in his stomach.

Down below, Ichigo was moving on. Toushirou wondered if Karin would give up her struggles to get her brother's attention, but he should have known that Karin was too stubborn to accept defeat. She wrenched her lips away from his and prepared to take another stab at yelling for help.

Still having no free hand to gag her with – and knowing that Kurosaki was still close enough to hear – Toushirou steeled his nerves and kissed her again. He'd already stolen one kiss, right? What the heck. Again she went stiff, apparently surprised that he'd try that trick again. Toushirou desperately hoped that she wouldn't bite him a second time. Karin's lips were soft against his and warmer than the rest of her body, which he was still holding onto tightly. Right now the kiss wasn't exactly going anywhere and, between his uncertainty of what he was doing and Karin's complete surprise, it was just hanging there, not meaning much. It was just his lips pressed against hers and, currently, really rather dull. He'd often wondered what it would be like to kiss Karin and hadn't been able to come up with much of an answer for himself due to his utter lack of experience in that field, but the vague idea that he'd formed certainly hadn't been anything like this.

A thought entered his mind then, that he'd always done everything that he attempted to the best of his abilities. So this shouldn't be any different. And besides, he was finally doing what he'd wanted to do for months now! He couldn't let this fall through because he hadn't put enough effort into it.

So, a bit nervous, he tried to move his lips.

This, more than anything he'd tried so far, threw Karin off the most. She blinked, startled at his move, and just stayed still for a bit. Her was still chilled from her brief swim in the pond but Toushirou could feel the heat from her body itself radiating through. He was wet too. It was the odd combination of cool liquid water and warm rising breath that made the barest trace of goose bumps rise on his arms.

It took a little while, but Karin relaxed her taut lips beneath his just the slightest and, hesitantly, tried to kiss back. It was then that Toushirou felt the first trickle of excitement slip into his stomach. How odd that a simple pressing of lips without anything behind it meant nothing but the moment that some intent and meaning was put into it, the entire experience changed. And now Karin was reciprocating! Sort of.

Ichigo was long gone, off to look for his missing delinquent sister somewhere else, while Toushirou finally let go of Karin and allowed the girl to stand on the branch herself, surrounded by the glowing red foliage of the vibrant autumn trees. The sunlight shone through the richly coloured leaves and threw warm shadows onto Karin's face, making her dark eyes twinkle in a most intimate way. Their experimental kisses continued, and even when Ichigo returned to the Kuchiki estate a while later, screaming himself hoarse for Karin to come out already, she ignored the irritated orange-head flat out. Toushirou wasn't entirely sure how they'd gotten to this stage, kissing amongst this sea of golden-orange, but he wasn't complaining.

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><p>Two days later, news reached Toushirou that Karin had been taken ill with a fever and that Ichigo was on the way over to avenge her sickness.<p>

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><p><strong>This is my entry for the HitsukarinFC on DeviantArt for the 'Fall Festival' Contest. It took a while to come up with a half-decent idea for anything but then the other day I remembered that old 101 Dalmatians Movie from 1996 where Roger goes flipping over a bench and tumbling into a lake. :D <strong>

**Also, the next chapter for SugarFox's story 'Genie of the Teapot' will be up in a short while. We both have hectic exams on Monday (Biology) and Tuesday (Business Studies) that we have to focus on. After that there's a whole week before our next (and final) exam, which is History. **

…**and then we're done with High School. O.O **

**Wish us luck! **


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